


it's clear now when you're standing here

by helsinkibaby



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Angst, Community: comment_fic, F/M, Fluff, Het, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-16
Updated: 2017-06-16
Packaged: 2018-11-14 23:34:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11218563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: As Barry and Iris dance their first dance, something catches Joe's eye...





	it's clear now when you're standing here

**Author's Note:**

> Theme : dancing  
> Prompt : The Flash, Caitlin Snow/Joe West, First dance at the wedding.  
> http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/822815.html?thread=103800607#t103800607

Joe has been imagining this moment for years. Actual years, since the day he realised a pint sized Barry Allen was in love with his baby girl, and definitely since the day he realised that, despite what Iris might have thought, she had feelings for him too. He's watched every step of the way, through other boyfriends and other girlfriends, through those awful nine months when they didn't know if Barry would ever wake up, through all of the craziness about Barry being The Flash and it's been a long road but they're finally here and he couldn't be more grateful. 

Barry and Iris are standing in the middle of the dance floor, barely moving, swaying and smiling and having the time of their lives. Joe might be biased, but Iris looks absolutely stunning in her gown and Barry... well, every time he looks at her, he just looks stunned. He also looks like he thinks he's the luckiest man in the world, and since Joe approves of that notion, he's not going to say anything to break the spell. Even if he could and he's pretty sure he couldn't. The song they're dancing to is the one that Barry sang when he proposed to Iris, something that Iris had insisted on for their first dance and Barry had been a little awkward about it but once Iris had turned on the charm, he hadn't been able to deny her. Which also suits Joe fine - after all, if she has her new husband singing to her, she's less likely to want her dad to do it. 

Joe can't take his eyes off the two young people in the centre of the floor for the duration of the first dance and it's only when the song is near to its conclusion that something breaks the spell. There's a moment out of the corner of his eye, a flash of familiar looking white hair moving past on the other side of the dance floor and he follows the trajectory, sees Caitlin heading for the double doors that lead to the balcony. There's something about the way she's walking, something about the look on her face, that makes the hairs on the back of his neck stand up and, as carefully and unobtrusively as possible, he follows her. 

They end up being the only two on the balcony and he knows, from the way she straightens her shoulders and spine, that she's heard him - or at least someone - come after her. "You ok?" he hears himself ask and she turns her head quickly to look at him. Her eyes are wide, surprise clear on her face and she blinks rapidly. 

Just like that, he remembers that movement. 

That's her blinking back tears manoeuvre. 

"Fine." Her lips curl in something that's meant to be a smile but misses by a large margin. "I'm fine. Really. Just needed some air."

Several things have changed since Caitlin gained her powers. Her relationship with the team in general, her friendship with Iris in particular, her hair absolutely. But the one thing that hasn't changed is that she's still the worst liar Joe's ever met. 

"Yeah," he says and he walks forward to join her at the balcony, resting his hands on the stone balustrade. "Me too."

She laughs softly, a little too bitter to be the Caitlin of old, a little too gentle to be Killer Frost. It's the story of her life for the last year or so. "During the first dance?"

He wrinkles his nose, shrugs one shoulder. "They won't miss me," he tells her and he doesn't miss the way her lips tighten. "I just wanted to make sure you were all right." 

Caitlin lifts one eyebrow, tilts her head in his direction. "You were worried you'd end up with free ice sculptures that are oh so realistic?" she drawls and he can't help himself, he laughs out loud at that. It probably wasn't what she intended because she looks surprised but then her shoulders relax and she looks down and there's a real smile on her lips as she does. 

"Do I get a say in who they're of? Because I could probably make you a list..." He leans a little closer to her, knocks his elbow against hers and he sees her smile widen at the joke. "I was worried about you." The words are out before he can stop them and her smile fades a little as she looks up into his eyes. 

Her eyes flutter shut as she takes a deep breath. Tipping her head back, she lets it out slowly, opens her eyes and looks up at the deepening dark of the night sky. "I was just thinking... during that dance... of everything they've been through. Everything we've been through. How things are different now." Another deep intake of breath, shuddering this time as she wraps her arms around herself. "All the ways things could have been different." 

Joe hopes she's talking about her powers, about the split in the team, about how Iris still hasn't quite forgiven her for allying herself with Savitar, how she still can't quite trust her, how Caitlin only merited an invite today at Barry's insistence. 

Then his eyes meet hers and he knows she's not. 

He draws in a deep breath of his own, lets it out just as slowly. 

"Do you wonder, sometimes?" Her voice is so quiet he can barely hear it. "If we'd been braver... if we hadn't been so afraid that Iris would never accept us... if Ronnie hadn't come back when he did... do you ever think..." 

Her voice trails off and she looks away, fingers white against the stone balcony. 

White and cold, as cold as his are warm when he covers her hand with his. 

"I do." He'd held her hand like this before, years ago in STAR Labs, in the night that had changed everything between them, the night when their usual nightly conversation - him visiting Barry, her not wanting to go home to an empty apartment - had taken a turn neither of them had expected. He has a feeling history is about to repeat itself because his whisper of, "More and more, lately," has her looking at him with eyes that are suddenly wide and impossibly dark. 

"Joe..." Her voice trembles as badly as her hand underneath his. She's still able to twist her fingers in his grasp, moving her hand so that their fingers are laced together. 

She's unable to say anything else though, and he fills the silence. "I've tried not to," he admits. "I've spent years not thinking about it. But ever since..." 

His voice trails off and she fills in the blanks. "Since Cecile?" 

The cold that he feels in his heart has nothing to do with her powers. It's a fair question though, and one he has to answer even if nothing more than this ever happens between them. "There are a lot of reasons why we didn't work out," he tells her simply. This isn't the time to go into details. "I wanted it to... We both did. But sometimes..." He sighs, glances down at his left hand, at the finger that still looks odd to him without the ring that had been there for so long. 

"Sometimes that isn't enough." Her voice is far away suddenly, her eyes too, and Julian Albert's face dances through his mind. 

"No." His fingers tighten on hers. "Sometimes it's not." He takes a deep breath, takes a leap of faith. "But sometimes... Life gives you second chances." 

The smile is back on her lips, along with a faint flush to her cheeks. He hasn't seen her look at him like that in a long time; he thinks he could get used to it. 

"Like this?" she asks, like she wants to be sure and he nods. 

"I don't know what's going to happen," he tells her. "What people will think... What they'll say. All I know is, right now? I'd really like to dance with you." 

Caitlin's smile grows wider, more brilliant than even Iris's had been all day. "I'd like that," she says and, hand in hand, they go back to the party.


End file.
